Rangers Part One: Ancient History
Chapter 1: Horde Kalvar leapt off the rock and smashed the weasel underfoot. The creature squealed, and the mouse finished him off with a slash of his dagger. Tirdea strode up from behind. "An efficient kill, sir." Kalvar nodded and wiped the blood off his dagger, then stowed it. "Everyone is gathered?" "Yessir." "Then let us leave. I fear our enemy is moving faster than we expected." Tirdea moved off to get the rangers moving, and Kalvar examined the emaciated weasel. A scout. It would soon be discovered that he was missing. Good, good. *** Riptang fiddled with his cutlass. Dirty again, he'd have to wash it. Blasted Captains, touching your bloody weapons and then giving you a reaming for not having it clean. The Lieutenant walked down from the hill to his tent. Riptang was known to be a stickler for cleanliness with his equipment, but he was also known for not forcing it on others. This did mean, however, that he did not enjoy engaging in parties with the other officers. He sat down and took out his oils and rags, washing the blade down, and finishing off with a waxing of his hilt and crossbar. Once done, he sheathed his weapon carefully, and left the tent. Walking to the guard's outpost, he proceeded to interrogate the sentries there, making sure they were remaining alert. "And where are the scouts?" "All present and accounted for, sah. Except one..." "Who?" "Oi dunno his name, sah. Just a weasel." Riptang looked south, where the weasel had gone. Who were these creatures the warlord wanted so desperately dead? *** The Rangers slunk quietly through the wilderness. Somehow, all ten score of the creatures managed to move almost invisibly. Kalvar amused himself by following a couple of bankvoles before revealing himself to them. They were in such a fright that it required little persuasion before they decided to move south, and went to pack for the trip. It took several days, but they all eventually reached a slightly warmer climate. Woods began to appear, and food became abundant. Unfortunately, so did the vermin. Fortunately, there were only small parties which any Ranger alone could have slaughtered. It was not long before they reached the object of Kalvar's interest. Redwall. But so had the vermin horde. *** Abbot Pius left the Abbey through the front door and observed several of the young'uns practicing with quarterstaves. One otter was being particularly feisty, fighting three others at once. And not doing a bad job. One of his foes charged in, coming in with a high swing. The otter flipped his staff around the others and delivered a quick hit to the opponent's stomach with her tail.. The creature fell backward, and his weapons went flying from the neat disarm. The other two rushed in, attempting to take advantage of her back being turned. Spinning, she blocked seven attacks from the two remaining opponents, and then was able to reach her staff around their defenses and rap his knees. The foe tripped, but the other gave a low horizontal swing to her waist. The otter crouched and flipped over the incoming swing, and finished her final opponent with a quick bop on his head. Standing erect, she bowed to the creatures on the ground. "Thank ye for the battle. You all require improvement, however." The three moaned and groaned, nursing there aches which had been expertly administered. The otter noticed the Abbot and strode over. "Father Abbot, thank you for noticing our sparring. We do enjoy spectators." Pius smiled. "You are most welcome, Angelica. I do like to see us keeping up to speed on our fighting skills." Angelica returned the smile. "Might I join you?" "Please do. A partner on these walks does lighten the day." The two walked up the steps and on to the battlements. "How goes your training?" "Very well, Abbot. The young'uns are advancing well, although t'would be better if we could make practice swords. I've had the foremole searching for the proper wood, but the going is slow, what with the vermin moving in to the woods." They were about halfway across the east battlements when a commotion broke out at the edge of the woods. Forty vermin tumbled out of the woods, and looked ready to do battle. They turned back to the woods as a hail or arrows whistled out and cut down half of the vermin. Another figure walked out of the woods, clad in leather armor and shrouded in a dark green cloak. The figure stopped but ten paces from the remaining vermin, who glared at the lone enemy. There was a rustle from the stranger's cloak, and a sword appeared. He twirled it through a simple figure eight pattern, then held the blade perfectly horizontal, pointed at the vermin. One rat charged forward, swinging a shortsword. The newcomer waited until the rat had almost batted his sword away before he twisted his blade, causing the rat to overextend. He twisted his sword again, and skewered the creature on its tip, the metal embedded all of two inches in to the rat's rib cage. The cloaked stranger took a step back, and the rat fell. Pius and Angelica stood in awe. Two swift movements and the rat had been killed by the very tip of a long sword, with almost no effort. Pius turned to the otter maid. "Quick, go and open the gate, we must help this stranger!" She shook her head. "No need father. Look!" Pius turned back to a scene of carnage. The vermin had charged the stranger en masse, who had adopted a fighting style unknown to Abbot Pius, who had studied all known fighting styles. The stranger seemed to be dancing, his sword a baton, dicing spear, shield, and helm alike. It was not long before all twenty vermin lay dead on the plains. The stranger wiped off his sword and looked up at Pius and Angelica. He swept his hood back, and Angelica observed a handsome young mouse. He waved towards the woods, and ten score creatures wandered out of the woods and meandered towards the gate. Pius found his tongue. "Angelica, open the gate. I suspect we have visitors." *** The 200 rag tag warriors marched in to the grounds, all hooded and cloaked, except for their leader. Pius and Angelica strode toward the mouse. "What is your business at Redwall, young warrior? And what is your name?" "My name is Kalvar, and my business is the defense of this abbey." "What do you mean, child?" "Dakkar the warlord is on his way, with a force of over 10,000 vermin. This news caused a great stir, and Pius felt dazed. Kalvar continued. "I must warn you, however, some of my fighters are what you may label 'vermin'." Sure enough, as Pius looked around, he saw a smattering of ferrets, stoats, weasels, and even a pair of rats, obviously mates. Kalvar smiled. "Father Abbot, the Rangers of the North are at your service." The Rangers of the North. Pius thought. Things are bad. *** Pius soon decided that the Rangers weren't that bad, especially with dibbuns. In fact, the first time a dibbun clambered on to a ferret's lap at the protest of his parents. The ferret, however, laughed and helped the small squirrel get some blackberry crumble, which they shared. Most of the other Redwallers were not so accepting, often having to force politeness to any "vermin" attempting conversation, even dabbling in sarcasm. Breakfast was subdued, due to the Rangers not being used to conversing with such civilized and un-warlike beasts. The awkward silence didn't last long before the Rangers moved off and began sparring about one hundred fifty paces off. Angelica and some of the other Redwall fighter initiates walked over to observe their fighting skill. About fifty sparred at a time, each pair causing a cacophony of noise made by the pinging of metal on metal. No verbal noise was made, except for the occasional grunt from a kick or smack. Farther off, twenty had set up some simple targets and were practicing their archery, each one firing one arrow every six to eight seconds, with extreme accuracy. More and more Redwallers wandered over. One hour after their end of breakfast, all the sparring pairs stopped fighting, bowed to each other, and broke up. Kalvar walked to the Abbot, having sparred the entire time without a break and not having broken a sweat. "I have sent ten to burn the bodies of the forty vermin in the ditch, Father Abbot, and have set a watch on the wall. We are expecting Dakkar to arrive in a few days." The Abbot sighed, resigned to this fate. "Thank you, Kalvar." "I'm afraid my warriors are not used to speaking. We've spent the last two weeks communicating through paw signals, and we aren't used to socialization with civilized beasts." "Why are you so used to it, then?" Kalvar's left eye twitched. "I guess its because I was raised as 'royalty'." "Is that why you're leader?" This time his eyes flashed with a hint of anger. "Father Abbot, I appreciate your taking us in, but please do not say that I have gotten where I am because of what I am. I got here because of what I've done." "I apologize." "Abbot, I would also like to protest the conduct of your creatures towards towards mine. I know this may sound like I'm complaining, but this could be a problem later when we're fighting the vermin horde." "Very well, I will go and speak with my creatures." "Thank you, Abbot Pius." *** Riptang stared up at the red stone and felt a sense of wonder. Whole armies had thrown themselves at the high gates of the Abbey, only to be dashed against them. Damug Warfang himself had attempted to slaughter a mere 400 hundred Redwallers with an army a thousand strong, but had been defeated by the army of Salamandastron. But how could even hundreds of hares and dozens of badgers stand against an army ten thousand strong? And there were but a thousand woodlanders in those walls, who were soon to be slaughtered by the armies of Dakkar. "Hehehe... I see the light of conquest in your eyes, Lieutenant." Riptang jumped and spun around. "Warlord Dakkar! Excellency!" The white fox was standing over Riptang, staring down at him, his golden eyes flashing greedily, The fox smiled, then disappeared. Riptang swallowed. Not many saw their elusive warlord, and even fewer lived to tell the tale. His paw twitched, and he set off to clean his armor. Soon, very soon, Redwall would fall. *** Tirdea the ferret spun and returned the way he came, his hood keeping the rain out of his eyes. The rogues placed in the plains had reported back. The bulk of Dakkar's horde had arrived, and they were planning on attacking in the morning. The fox was known for attacking early in the morning, when armies were known to be groggy. What he wasn't expecting was the ten score beasts behind the battlements. As Tirdea walked past his leader, Kalvar gave him the thumbs up. Tirdea nodded. Only a few hours. *** The horde awoke early, with as little bustle as possible. The creatures looked up in to the branches of an old, dead oak tree, to see a white fox, clad in thick plate mail armor, a stoat behind him. The fox squinted at Redwall. "Ladder carriers to the front! Hordes of the North! Charge!" Ten thousand vermin swarmed to the walls of Redwall Abbey. *** Ten score Rangers looked out at the advancing ocean of vermin. Kalvar held up a hand, and they all stood, stringing arrows to bows. "Rangers, pick your targets!" Behind them, the Matthias and Methuselah bells sang out, and Redwallers swarmed out of the front door. The vermin were several hundred paces from the ditch. "Rangers, fire!" Two hundred arrows soared out over the ditch, silhouetted in the rising sun. *** Dakkar watched the arrows formed beams as they soared down, striking their targets with unerring accuracy. One landed on the head of a nearby rat, and he walked over and pulled it out. Black, with bright white feathers. And a gold band around the fletchings. Dakkar snarled, and looked up to the top of the wall. A mouse stood there, staring at him, calmly stringing another arrow as rocks and arrows deflected off his leather armor, or just missed him entirely. "You!" Dakkar screamed to the mouse. The mouse raised his bow and released the string. Dakkar sidestepped and the arrow slew a ferret behind him. Chapter 2: To the Walls! "To the walls, Redwallers!" Abbot Pius roared, grabbing a spear and rushing to the wall steps. The Redwallers behind him snatched up any weapon they could find and followed their Abbot. The Rangers on the walls had lit a row of fire along the tops of the battlements, and were lighting arrows on fire, then shooting them down in to the oncoming horde. Tirdea met the Abbot. "Father, the Rangers will hold this side of the wall. Have your creatures hold the other three." Pius looked down at the oncoming horde. "200 of you holding all of them off?" A twinkle entered the ferret's eyes. "Call us if you need help." *** "Get those ladders up, you nitwits! Get up there and kill those rangers!" The Rangers had other plans for the ladder bearers. Their fire was fast and accurate, striking the bearers down, slowing their progress, and the vermin arrows and stones either missed or merely bounced off their armor. Only a couple were able to get through, and those wounded popped back up a few minutes later, their wounds bandaged. Dakkar roared to the skies. "Imbeciles, the lot of you!" He pushed his way through, hefting his tower shield above his head. A few arrows bounced off it, but the tempered steel held without denting. He reached the first ladder. "Shield bearers, get over here!" Several weasels bearing shields rushed over to their master. "Now, form ranks! Do as you were trained!" Dakkar snarled. The weasels form a tesudo formation, a shield square which made the infantry within it nearly invulnerable to missiles. Thus the shield bearers were able to lift and carry the ladders successfully. *** Kalvar observed this, and was ready when the first ladder was tipped upwards. A stoat perched on the top of it leapt in to his blade, and was skewered. "Rangers, draw your blades! Take down the ladders!" The now uncloaked Rangers drew their blades, metal that glistened in the early morning light. As the vermin clambered up the wide siege ladders, they were cut down by shimmering blades. Tirdea yelled for help, and two other Rangers ran to his aid. They grabbed the top rung of the ladder and shoved to the side. The ladder slid, then fell, taking thirty vermin with it. On its way down, the ladder got caught on something, and snapped in two. The battle continued, long in to the day. *** The Redwallers were observing the battle from the other walls, since most other officers of Dakkar's army had little initiative. Angelica and the other defenders helped as little as they could, but there was no overrunning the tight-unit Rangers. Every time one of theirs was wounded, he would fall back to a medic. If the wound was too grievous, he wouldn't return to the fight. The bad news was that holes were starting to open in their lines. About two and a half score Rangers were wounded, and out of the battle. She knew she had to take action. The middle of the wall was now almost completely overrun by vermin. "Redwallers, help them! Take the walls back! Reeeeedwaaaallllll!" *** Kalvar swung his blade horizontally and cut a red fox off at the waist. Turning left, he repeated the move and sliced right through a stoat's sword, then ran him through. He heard the war cry, and watched the Redwallers turn on to the west wall. He yelled his own war cry, and charged in to the middle, tossing a small ladder over on his way. *** Tirdea locked his shields with three others. "Form wall groupings, delta formation!" Seven groups of Rangers formed wall grouping squares. The design had been thought up and based off of the tesudo formation, but made for easier tactical movement. The delta formation was seven of these groups in the shape of an arrow. The groups moved themselves forward, while the ranks behind strung arrows to bows. Vermin fell under the hail of arrows, then to swords, reaching out from between the walls of moving shields, and were soon run off the walls. *** "Thanks for the help, young otter." Angelica turned from her lunch and found herself looking in to the eyes of the Ranger leader, clad from neck to toe in leather armor, his cape falling down his back. "Me, sir?" The mouse waved his hand. "Don't you 'sir' me, missy. You fight well." "Not as well as any of your Rangers." "Perhaps not." The mouse was getting to something. "What do you want?" "I want you to join the Rangers." Angelica's jaw dropped. "Me, but... why?" "You fight well, you're courageous, and you can only improve." Angelica nodded. "What do you need me to do?" Kalvar's eye twinkled. "Train with us tomorrow. We'll provide the armor and weapons." *** Angelica felt awkward the next day, having a ferret help her in to the armor. This was when she learned that the Rangers first put on chainmail shirts and leggings, followed by the leather jerkin and leggings, to be finished off with leather boots with steel toes. Gloves were optional, and Angelica decided to forego them. She was then given a real long sword. The grip was comfortable, and the ferret nodded. "You are ready. Now, let us spar." The ferret adopted the en garde pose. "Have you used a sword before, otter?" "No, sir." "Don't 'sir' me. Name's Tirdea." "Your leader is the same way." "We all are. Now, lets begin." *** The cacophony of noise began after breakfast again, this time with more Redwallers coming to observe the skill of the Rangers. They did not spar as long, and broke up but half an hour after beginning. The Abbot was curious. "Why not so long?" The female rat, Hadier, answered. "War, Father Abbot. No use wasting energy when it can be spent doing other things." Sure enough, the Rangers were breaking up in to groups and grabbing their dark cloaks. "What are you doing?" Pius questioned Hadier. "Gathering weapon supplies. You've obviously studied the fighting arts, you know that northerners are some of the best makers of siege weaponry." Pius nodded. "What do you plan on making?" Hadier shrugged. "Cell work. We just gather what we're told. That way if one group is captured the enemy cannot learn all our plans." Pius nodded again. "But they know you're northerners. They must know what you're doing." Hadier laughed. "There are only a thousand creatures who know Ranger siege weapons. Only five can make them. Two of them are in this detachment." "How many Rangers are there?" Hadier just smiled. *** The parties soon returned with woods of varying sorts, which Kalvar and Tirdea set the Rangers upon with protracted efficiency, beginning to construct their siege weapons. Up went two triangular frames, attached to a square base. On one side of the base in between two intersections of the triangles a hook was screwed in to place, which had a long, flat part. The base had four long indents carved in to it, one on each corner, and were set on to a well oiled circular frame. Tirdea pushed, and the entire square frame spun easily. A circular beam was put on top, and greased well to minimize friction. A long, thick willow beam was wrapped on to the horizontal beam, and secured tightly to it. Then a net was brought to the short end, and filled with dozens of rocks. On the other end went a large sling, within was placed a large rock. Kalvar and Tirdea hooped up the long end to the hook, and stood back to admire their work. "Well done, Rangers." Pius observed the odd siege engine. "What have you two constructed?" Tirdea had clambered up to the wall, and was sighting through a telescope. "Five degrees south!" Three Rangers pushed until it was aiming slightly left. "Release!" They did, and Pius watched the arm shoot towards the sky, flinging the large stone. Several seconds passed, then a whump was heard, followed by a shrill scream. Tirdea turned back to the ground. "Got five! Load 'er again!" Kalvar walked up to the Abbot. "Trebuchet. Developed for sieges of large fortresses." "Is it effective?" Another clink was made as the hook was released, then another whump, and this time a loud crunch as well as a squeal. "Got a catapult and two vermin! Reload!" Some sentries cheered. Pius posed a question: "Won't you run out of rock soon?" Kalvar smiled. "I, ah, recruited your moles to dig holes underneath the grounds, we have a nearly infinite amount of ammunition." This time smaller stones were used. "Got six that time!" Another cheer. "Kalvar, please come with me." "Yes Father Abbot?" The pair walked in to the Abbey. "I want to tell you about our Abbey history. Not so long ago, just two seasons ago, in fact. You've heard of Slagar the Cruel?" "Fox, survived a poisonous bite from Asmodeus, and adder. Thought he owed his wrath to Matthias the Warrior, so he stole some young ones from Redwall, but was eventually caught by Matthias and Orlando the Axe." "How do you know this?" "Why do you think Dakkar is sitting outside with a large host of vermin?" Pius was shocked. "So its true... Chickenhound wasn't an only child." "Same father, different mothers. Dakkar wants you for killing his half-brother, and he wants me for killing his mother." "Then you know where Matthias has gone?" Kalvar shook his head. "I know he's not here, but I can guess." "He took his son on a training journey, the season they returned, but they haven't come back. I don't know if they ever will." Kalvar grabbed the Abbot's shoulder. "Abbot Pius, I know not by what you mean, but know this: Whether it be days or a dozen seasons from now, I will ensure that they have a home to come back to." "I know you will, child, I know." Kalvar looked up to observe the tapestry of Martin the Warrior, and the sword hooks. "Did Matthias take his blade with him?" "No, why do-" Pius stared up at the sword hooks. They were empty. *** At the moment that Pius and Kalvar were conversing, the two subjects of there conversation were currently up to their knees in a small party of vermin. Mattimeo ran a weasel through. "Best of luck, eh Dad? Not one day from Redwall and we finally find some more vermin." Matthias ducked a club and lopped its owners paw off. "Yes, aren't we lucky. But, oof, just look at them. Either its another small gang like the ones we've spent a season and a half clearing out of Mossflower, or else its a scouting party." Mattimeo jumped on a ferret's back and punched the back of his neck. "Scouting party. Too small of weapons." Matthias glanced behind Mattimeo. "Son, get down!" The two warrior mice threw themselves on to the ground as a hail of arrows sliced out of the woods, cutting the remaining vermin down. Eight shadows materialized from the darkness, cloaked creatures, carrying black bows and wearing leather armor. Matthias saw a gold bracer glint in the moonlight, which withdrew in to the cloak immediately. One of the creatures stood forward, and threw back its hood. Matthias and Mattimeo leapt up as they saw the ferret, but paused as the others threw back their hoods, and saw a mouse, two hedgehogs, and an otter, along with other vermin. "Why are you staring at us?" The ferret stepped forth. "I am Tirdea, second-in-command of the Rangers of the North, Matthias and Mattimeo of Redwall. I must say, you are in the nick of time." *** Kalvar watched the ten creatures enter, eight of them in Ranger armor and cloaks, two in green habits. He ran down the steps, and confronted the two mice, holding out his paw. "Matthias and Mattimeo, its an honor." Mattimeo looked around. He saw two strange catapults, and a lot of creatures standing about, wearing leather armor. Here and there were pairs sparring, the blades tinging rapidly off each other. Matthias shook the stranger's paw. "Who are you?" "I'm Kalvar, leader of the Rangers of the North. I'm glad you're hear, it'll bolster our defenses." "Why do you need defenses?" Mattimeo questioned as he observed some of the "Rangers" breaking off from their jobs to look at him and his father. "Redwall is currently under siege by a large host of vermin. We need warriors like you." Matthias had noticed the Rangers looking at them, and he saw his wife running toward him. "Why do your warriors stare at us?" Kalvar looked behind him at the warriors, and Tirdea and his team moved off. The others went back to work. "You two are heroes to most of us, including myself." Cornflower had reached her family. "Matthias, Mattimeo! Its been so long!" The two mice embraced Cornflower, and Kalvar stood awkwardly at the family reunion. Cornflower let the two go. "You must tell me everything that has happened! But where is Constance and the others?" Matthias slapped his forehead. "They're behind us by about an hour! They'll surely run in to the vermin parties!" Kalvar stood forward, snapping two claws. Tirdea and three rangers rushed to him. "Well then, lets lend 'em a hand." Chapter 3: Returning Heroes The seven warriors combed quietly through the woods in search of the party of Redwallers. They came upon them soon enough. However, they also came upon a small party of vermin, who fell upon them with an avid vengeance. "Hoho, I say chaps! Ambush, wot!" Matthias rose. "That's Basil! Charge!" The seven charged in to a woodland chaos, with Redwallers on one side and Dakkar's vermin on the other. The newcomers turned the tide of battle, and the vermin were soon driven off, and the Redwallers returned safely home. *** Introductions were made all around, and Redwallers welcomed their kind back in to the fold. The Rangers stood off a ways, not being used to all the gaity. The Abbot soon announced that a famous Redwall feast was to commence by sundown. Redwallers soon began invited the Rangers to join them in activities, and one mousemaid asked Kalvar to dance. He accepted, and they were soon twirling round and round. "What is your name, ma'am?" "Velvet, sir." "Please, don't 'sir' me." She laughed, and he thought it was one of the most beautiful laughs in the world. *** Instruments were set out, and it t'was not long until the Rangers were invited to sing and dance. Tirdea and Kalvar arrayed the Rangers in three long lines, and started stomping. The female rat, Hadier, stood up and began to swing, with a sweet, tenor voice. Category:Maslab Category:Maslab's Fanfiction